I'm not the biggest anime fan. There are far too many series with an inherent fetishization of weird kinks that stops me from fully getting behind shows with some admittedly cool ideas. So when I tell you that Cowboy Bepop is on par with Firefly, The Godfather, Unforgiven, and Breaking Bad, I need you to know how crazy it is for me to say this. Granted, I haven't gone that far in the series yet. I only made it to My Funny Valentine before starting this breakdown/recap of each the series.
This will be a weekly series posting on Mondays or Tuesdays (I'll play it by ear) where I look at each episode of Cowboy Bepop and why this series works when a hundred other anime shows never worked for me.
One thing that works right off the bat is the cold open. It's mysterious and visually stunning. The purpose still manages to elude me; nonetheless, it's intriguing.
The Cowboy Bepop title intro itself is – for lack of a better word – fucking amazing. A good opening should introduce the tone of the world these characters inhabit. As the series continues, it should remind you why this world is so exciting to visit. In a worst case scenario it should warn you to stay as far away as humanly possible from the cancerous hive of The Big Bang Theory or Two and a Half Men.
But Bepop is not fuckboy comedy. Bepop successfully transcends its influences of noir and space westerns with sure footing that rides a line between homage and pioneer. This is what true art is all about. I'd go as far as saying it's almost a masterpiece (If the show nails the second batch of episodes, I can champion this). But enough about that. Let's get into the first Session of the series.
I love it when Pilot episodes focus on "A day in the life..." type of storytelling. The writing makes it easy to pick up on the friendship between Spike and Jet. They're brothers in arms (or in Jet's case, arm) with not much to lose and everything to gain. They're also struggling to make ends meet. Characters constantly pushed to the edge always make for interesting protagonists. You get to see what they're made of.
Steve Blum is on par with the best voice actors to grace the industry. His voice resonates in such a manner that I don't intend to watch the subtitled version of this series anytime soon. I'd just be disappointed it wasn't Blum.
On the hunt for a bounty of a man who screwed over a mysterious crime syndicate, we get to see how well the duo of Spike and Jet work together, while also getting a look at how their ideologies can lead to a butting of heads. It's when the episode begins unraveling just how chaotic their lives can become on a "small-fry" bounty that you understand who these characters are. We're witnessing characters who are just so, so sad.
As Spike meets his target and target's girlfriend – the two are trying to sell a drug that induces Hulk-like rage and strength so they can escape to Mars – the dialogue choices influence our perception of this guy. He's an old fashioned cowboy in every sense, with a tragic past that'll surely unfold as episodes pass by. Spike will go to great lengths to catch a bounty, but he's not heartless. It's not overtly clear from this episode but you get the sense that Spike will still go out of his way to help people on their own personal journeys in the series. Everyone just wants to get away from their personal troubles.
The two bounties, Asimov and Katerina, fall in line with tragic antagonists. Far from villains (though they're definitely not good people) their own version of "making ends meet" is doomed from the start. Even if they were able to escape the syndicate, bounties would still be open for business on Mars. The double twist reveal of Katerina's pregnancy and not-pregnancy are fun, but continue to inform the desperation of the couple. The duo's tragic end of Katerina killing Asimov before being shot/sucked into the vacuum of space hits me hard. I guess broken dreams cause me to share automatic empathy with characters. A+ tragic visuals with Katerina floating through space as the vials of Red Eye float out of her fake stomach.
I actually watched this episode first back in high school in a Japanese class (I took it because I was obsessed with Tokyo Drift and I never regretted it for a second). What caught me instantly was the world of Bepop. I'm pretty much a lifelong Blade Runner fan so seeing another science fiction environment so heavily influenced by classic noir themes of existentialism and loneliness highly tickled my interest. I wasn't able to get a copy of the series until much later (last year to be exact) but thanks to a good friend, I'm now able to dive into this whole series today. I can't wait to break this show down.
Until next week... Adios, Cowboy
No comments:
Post a Comment